VIDEO: FIND Hope After Death of Loved One | Yahosh Bonner | The Men Who Love God

VIDEO: FIND Hope After Death of Loved One | Yahosh Bonner | The Men Who Love God

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Yahosh Bonner is a renaissance man. He’s an actor, singer, TV host, public speaker and an athletic director at a private school. Yahosh shares about his heritage, ancestry, and about his incredible family whose strength and unity bonds them together to not only withstand tragedy and loss, but to grow closer to God and closer together and to find joy in all things. If you are looking for inspiration on how to strengthen your family or navigate loss, you’ve landed on the right episode.

FIND Hope After Death of Loved One – powered by Happy Scribe

And what I found, too, is a lot of times I’ll go through something, I’m like, Lord, why am I going… Pick somebody else. But then I realized a lot of our hardships, it’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s about, like you said, what you do with that to help serve your brothers and sisters.

So you are a musician. How would you tell me? You’re a musician?

Yeah, musician. I do some acting, public speaking, and I’m an athletic director at American Heritage School, private school, and American Fork, a faith based school. I love athletics. It’s been a part of my life. And so, yeah, I do… Whatever opportunities come my way that I like, I jump into it.

And you have how many kids? Four kids.

Four kids? Yes. Malakai, 12, Samaya, 8, Nehemiah, 6, and then Kuregi is my.

1 year old. That’s such a cool name.

Kuregi. I love it. Me and my wife were like, Yeah, we want biblical names. That would be good. So they reminded me of who they are, what they believe. And so we did Malakai. We’re like, Good. Then the next one, Samaya was supposed to be Saraya. My wife was like, No, we’re going to switch it up. I was like, We got a plan. So wifey wins. We went with Samaya, but then Nehemiah, another biblical name. Then I got to visit Africa. I went to Africa, which is really neat because being someone of enslaved heritage, I don’t know much about my family history. There’s only so far back I can go. I felt like there was a real disconnect between being here and my black heritage in America. Then Africa, I felt like there was a disconnect. When I went there and the Saints welcomed us, the church members welcomed us, they said, Welcome home. I was like, This is amazing. I felt the love. I was just like, Oh, my gosh. I don’t have any kids with an African name. And so Kuregi was born soon after. And it was like, Yeah, Kuregi. So it’s a Swahili name.

And it’s actually my first name. My first name is Kuregi. My middle name is Yehoshua, but I just go by Yehosh.

Oh, my gosh. That’s so cool. Okay, so you go to Africa. What was.

That for? The Saints back there were excited about Green Flake and about James Manning James, Elijah Abel, all these black Saints, knowing that there were people of African descent that were a part of the restoration and everything. There’s a lot of poor areas that we visited that didn’t have the DVDs. There was no Deseret book. We went there. My brother helped fund it. Other donors and people like that helped fund that trip for us to go and to visit all these stakes in Ghana. I went to K’amasi, Teakwate, K’ra, a lot of different places and got to visit with the Saints and show them a condensed version of the movie to sing and praise with them. It was really special because that was my first time ever being back. In my family, my parents were very like, We have to stay connected. We have to know who we are. Most of our names are African names. It was really neat and they really loved knowing our names and fellowshipping with us.

Dude, I’m so My ancestry is Scottish. I’m both sides. It’s like Paul Campbell Robertson. Wow. It’s like everything. And we went back and we… Special. It’s special. So I can relate to what you’re saying. We went back and I was 17 at the time and we were driving around trying to find this house where these seven Robertson Brothers were converted to the Church and then came across. And it was getting dark and it was out in the middle of nowhere. And then my dad, I can’t remember, pulled over to a library and asked the librarian and she was like, Oh, yeah, I know this place. It’s called the Faults or the Folds and it means the sheep or something like that. And we drive out to this old farmhouse and we found literally the place where these seven Robertson Brothers in the 1800s left. And I was 17 and it was so powerful at the time. But that must have been unbelievable to hear, Welcome home.

Absolutely. And to see these people, beautiful people, faithful people, brilliant. It’s just really great because it’s different than what is portrayed in the media. Africa is a continent. There’s so many different countries and stuff in Africa. And just to see people that were like, Oh, you look like me. That’s cool. I remember we went to an orphanage because we went and did some work there and dropped off clothes and things like that. I was working with this guy. We were about the same height, same lifestyle. Then one of the other workers that were there were like, You guys look like brothers. Usually when people say that, here in Utah or other places, you’re just like, Yeah, that’s what everybody says, and we look nothing alike. When we looked at each other, I was like, Oh, my gosh, we do look alike. That was cool. To know that that’s my heritage, those are my people. There’s not such a huge disconnect. I really love that because I felt like, Man, what is my real last name? It’s not Bonner. What are the stories of my ancestors? Just to see these people who are industrial, who are brilliant, who are musical, and just to be like, Wow, I have a connection there, was amazing.

And to also know, because we went and visited the Slavery Castles at Cape Coast.

I don’t know what this is.

Oh, okay. So when people were… They would go inland and they would just steal people, or they would buy and they would bring these people to the Slavery Castle and they would lock them up and they would keep them there for three months. Hundreds of people.

Was this like a fortress?

Yeah, it’s like a fortress. They have cannons and soldiers and stuff there. Who built these?

Who built.

These things? People from Europe, people from Spain, Portugal. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. And so just depending on what castle you were at, nd so to find out what they went through just in the slavery castle in terms of being there for three months, small little window, people went blind in there, standing in their own feces, people being sick. If you fought back, then they would take you and put you in another dungeon and starving you for a week and you’d be dead and then they’d throw you out to sea. After that three months to go through this door they call the door of no return. The thing is that these people from all over Africa, they were all different languages and stuff, so they couldn’t even communicate. Many of them, they couldn’t communicate with each other with their native tongue. They put them on these boats and then on the boat ride, they were so close together and many people died. Just to know that I’m a descendant of people who were great people, who were kings and queens, but then also who were enslaved and were strong enough to survive the slavery castles, to survive the boat ride all the way to America, and then to also overcome slavery and to survive through that just gives me a sense of gratitude and also knowing that I’m not just living for myself.

There’s a quote that I love that I feel describes me and many of us is that I am my ancestors wildest dreams. In our faith, we believe in our ancestors rooting for us, that there’s a veil and that they are there and they want us to succeed. And so this is something that President Holland says that heaven is on your side and they’re rooting for you. And I believe that strongly. And so when I made my decision to marry my wife, they’re like, yes, that’s my great, great grandson. When I made the decision to go to the temple or to serve a mission, these things that are doing what God is pleased with, I feel like they’re cheering for me. I know that my ancestors, there’s no way that they could have made it through slavery without knowing about Jesus Christ because you couldn’t read. You weren’t allowed to read, you weren’t allowed to read the gospel for yourself and things like that. But we had these spirituals, these songs known as Negro spirituals or African American spirituals that we were able to learn about the gospel, learn about the Savior that is for all men. That this savior came and died, didn’t just die for these people who have enslaved me, but he died for me, that he loves me.

So learning about that and knowing that a part of my heritage strengthens me. Same thing with a lot of those who have pioneer heritage, man, it’s a hard life, and then track to make it through. What were they doing? Singing praises. I feel like singing praises and coming to know Jesus Christ, that’s where peace is found. Regardless of what’s going on in our lives, we can have peace because we know who the Savior is and because we know he understands all our suffering.

Dude, this is so beautiful. How did you I mean, you were such a bright light. The second I met you, I’m like, Dude, this guy is full of light. This guy’s living with some good juice. You just exude brightness. But even though you come from an amazing family, you’ve told me about your family before, how did you, Yehosh, come to know Jesus or come to know God? Because you said you’re grateful for your ancestors. When did this belief and this When was it instilled in you?

Well, that’s just what we did growing up. We had it there. Obviously, there comes a time when you have to know the Savior for yourself. But going back to my heritage, my parents were a B aptist preachers in Liberia, West Africa. They went to Liberia and served mission there. We come from a strong foundation of Christ. My dad’s aunt was the trailblazer of gospel music in Cincinnati, Ohio. After slavery, the Bonners came up from the Bonner Plantation in Alabama and in Georgia, and they settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. My aunt started a singing group called the Bonner Family Singers. They started doing gospel music there. It’s neat to be able to sing gospel music as a family. Through music, I’ve come to know who Christ was. Obviously, for us, Sundays were long because we would go to the Church of Jesus Christ, Latterday Saints. Growing up, Church was three hours. Then my mom would be the choir director at a Baptist Church, and then she’d be singing a solo at the non denominational Church. We were going from Church to Church a lot of our childhood. Sundays was Church Day. And family prayer was huge for us as well.

But I remember when I was 15 years old and President Hinkley gave the talk, five B’s, be smart, be grateful, be clean, be true, be humble, thankful, and everything. The Spirit spoke to me then because I was a youth and I had begged my mom for years, Can I have earrings? Can I have earrings? And I need tattoos because I play basketball and I can’t be the only black dude without tattoos and earrings in the NBA. You know what I’m saying? I got to look right. I got to have the swag. Anyway, I had earrings. He talked about how young men shouldn’t have earrings and how our body is a temple. I was just like that his testimony and what he shared with us. I knew he was a Prophet. I just at that point, I was like, I want to live for you. I want to make my father proud and I want to live for the Lord. I said a prayer that night like, whatever I need to do, put me in a position to use my gifts and my talents to serve the. It was interesting because I was living in a small town and I don’t know if you want to shout it out.

I loved it. I had a great childhood. I was living in a small town. We used to move around a lot growing up. But I had some great friends and we all had goals early on when I first moved there. I was in eighth grade and we used to serve missions, play college sports, and we had these different goals. But my friends’ goals were changing. My actions seemed like they were changing. I wasn’t going to all my meetings at church. My teacher, we’re talking one Sunday in class, and she’s just like, This is the choice. You don’t have to be here. I was like, Okay. After sacrament, I would just go home, and I’d come back right back before Church ended. I was not giving the Lord all of me. You’re only 15. Yeah, I was 15. Oh, my gosh. But I had just a huge awakening and I just prayed. The next Sunday came around and one of my friends, mom, comes up to my mom and says, Man, your boy, your hoshe, you got a good boy. He’s a good boy. He doesn’t do any of the things his friends do. My mom was like, What do his friends do?

Within the week, I was on a plane to Arizona, to Mesa, Arizona. My parents, they understood the power of association. Even though I wasn’t doing all the things that my friends were doing, I was around those things. I said my prayer, the Lord prepared my heart. That thing happened with my mom and my mom, I was gone. I was living with one of my dad’s friends from when we lived in Las Vegas. He said, I remember I have a friend that lives out that way. Let’s give him a call, let’s see if he’ll take our son, and then the rest of us will move.

They were sending you away and then your whole family is going to move following you. That’s how your mom, how much she cared about you.

Absolutely. Oh, my gosh. There’s eight of us. There’s eight kids.

Were they all mad at you?

I don’t think so. I’ll ask. I didn’t know the full story. I didn’t know that that conversation even happened until I was an adult. I didn’t know that my friend’s mom said that, and that’s the reason why they moved. I thought they were moving me because of better opportunities for athletics. Because my parents are very intentional about raising us, and they moved to New York so my younger brother could go to La Guardia to a performing arts school. The moves that happened a lot of times in our family were to give the teenagers or whoever was coming up a better opportunity to pursue the things that they want. And so basketball was big for me. So I thought that’s the reason why I didn’t know. But I was ready. My heart was ready. I was just like, Oh, man, okay, I’m going to go. And this is an opportunity to start over and to be a new person, a new creature in Christ. And so that was just a big turning point for me is when… Because I always knew I feel like I always knew God was real. I always knew the Savior did what he did.

But it didn’t really hit and matter to me until I was about 15 years old. And I was just like, oh, man, I love him so much. I want to be better. I think there’s something that I have that I could give and serve. I know that the Lord is going to expound on any talent that I have. At that point, it was sports. That was probably my big, Hey, let’s go, Yehosh. You got to be better.

Dude, I’m blown away by how spiritually advanced you were at 15. I was nowhere near that.

It was just the Lord speaking to me. I wasn’t like someone who was in my scriptures and knew all my scripture mastery, but I knew I wanted to be better.

For him. Do you credit your parents for a lot of this? Absolutely. Your parents seem incredible. I’m curious, what are you doing now with your kids that you got from your parents?

That’s a great question. I co host a show also on BYUTV. I host a show. That’s one thing I had to say. Yeah, you’re busy. I host a show on BYUTV. It’s about families. We visit different families throughout the country. It’s called Family rules. We visit different families and they give us tools and show us things that they do within their families to help their families. One thing that I do with my family and that I picked up a little bit from one of the other families, but it’s different is our nighttime routine is I’m busy. I’m an athletic director, and I teach. I teach during the day and then my main part of my job is after school when all the games are happening that I’m there and the officials are there and I’m just checking the crowd and all things like that. And so there are some weeks where I’m just not home during the day. And so one thing that kids look forward to is that night time time with me, one on one, is where I lay down with them and I ask them how their day was. We would do a sweet sour service or highs and lows, depending on whatever they say that night, like, Hey, this is my high, this is my low.

So we just do like, What was your high of the day? What was your low of the day? Or What was sweet about the day? What was sour? Who did you serve? So we just talk about their day. Then something that is unique to us is that we do a song of praise. Like my parents, it’s really important for me, for our children to know who we are, what our ancestors went through, and what allowed them, what carried them, what strengthened them through their hard times. Because that strength didn’t just disappear. It’s still here for us. God’s love is unchanging. We sing a spiritual usually. Sometimes we’ll sing hymns, but usually it’s a spiritual, Negro spiritual or an African American spiritual, depending on how you want to call it. That is something that they look forward to. I have a son, Malakai, who’s older. We do a little bit less with him now. He’s just 12. Is he too cool for school now? He’s so cool. He’ll sing the spirituals, but he’ll just mumble. That’s the only time we ever hear him sing is when we do the song of praise. I’m so grateful that he has that within him to want to sing that, even though it’s somewhat of mumble.

But Nehemiah and Sehmiah, they are like, everybody’s asleep and they are singing with all their heart and soul. They’re just like, ride on, King Jesus. Oh, my gosh. It’s a lot of fun. But that is one thing that helps nurture the relationship that I have with my kids and also the most important relationship, turning them towards Christ through those spirituals and on our night time routine. So that’s one thing that we do within our family. It’s funny. Me and my wife, we love being social. We love going, maybe we can go out to eat or maybe we can meet up with friends. And if we’re going to go on a… We should go on a trip or we should go to go visit Auntie Uncle Junior in California. We should go there. And it’s like, Hey, should we just let’s go? And we look at each other, we’re like, No, we all want to go. We want to be together. We like being together. And so I think we’re raising children, but we’re really raising our best friends. That’s cool. It’s cool to see them grow up and to see my son, Malakai, and see his personality develop.

I’m like, Where did you get that from? That’s not me. That’s not your mom. But you’re your own person. And so that’s another thing is, yes, it’s important that they know who they are in the spirituals, but that we also have a relationship with them. Yeah, we’re mom and dad, but we like these guys. We like to be around them. I think they feel that.

That’s cool. Being a parent of three, I’m obsessed with my kids. They’re the best and then sometimes the worst.

I love that you approach it like you’re creating your best friends because I’m learning in my life when I have an intention to see something a certain way, it really does come to fruition. If you see your kids as an annoyance or like, I’ve got to get my work done and they’re always bugging me, then they’re like this annoyance. But if you’re building your best, you’re raising your best friends, I can totally see the joy when you’re talking about them that they really are becoming your best friend. That’s beautiful. I was still.

Trying to find a way for them to nurture their own relationships because, man, they fight. They play hard together. I get excited about our family and is it still growing? I’m not sure. But we have this chat, me and my brothers and sisters. They’re my closest friends, my brothers and sisters and my parents, and we speak every day. We talk every day on this app. It’s called Marco Polo, and it’s an ongoing conversation and we just always talk. We have a brother’s thread, sister’s thread. We have a gospel thread where we only speak gospel stuff about it because many of us are teachers in our callings at church, or we have questions about this scripture or this doctrine, and we’ll talk about in the Gospel thread. We have a Bonner Family business thread because we’re a singing group and we talk everything music on that thread. Then we just have a Bonner kids thread, which just the kids, and we could talk about our experiences growing up so we don’t hurt our parents feelings. Man, there was this and this and this. Can you believe that? Because our parents did a great job. But we’re able to keep it real on the kids thread because we don’t want to say anything that makes our parents feel bad because they did such a great job and to have eight kids.

Oh, my gosh. None of us in jail or in prison. We’re doing pretty good.

Dude, that’s awesome. On the topic of families and ancestors, I saw on Instagram the tragedy that happened to your family. And four years ago, my brother and his wife lost an infant to SIDS. And although it just seemed so unfair that a child so pure is taken, and there’s no answers, it’s like, What is SIDS? What is this? And you just don’t get answers. There’s no answers to it. And it’s just a complete tragedy. And so although time has healed the sting of that loss, seeing your experience and seeing your post on Instagram about… Is it your brother?

Yeah, my younger brother, Conlon and his wife.

Rachel. so they lost, I’ll let you talk about that, but I wanted to just tell you how I perceived. I saw that post and I saw how you guys talked about ancestors on the other side. Although it’s so sad, this child is now in paradise with ancestors. And I really believe that because I feel my ancestors in my life. And I was just so impressed with the dichotomy of how people view death and how you guys viewed it so beautifully. And not that it wasn’t painful because it’s unbelievable. I get it because I just watched my brother go through it just like you did. But you guys brought such a perspective of joy and grace and of Christ and of ancestors and of like, we lost him in this life, but he just joined all his ancestors. I’d love to hear how you guys, your experience on that and talk more on that.

Yeah. So this was new. This was new to us. This loss, untimely loss. We’ve never experienced a loss like this. I mean, we’ve lost our grandparents and uncles. Same. But for the youngest member of the Banner family and us not expecting it, like you said, this is sting. It’s painful. It was hurtful. It was sad. We miss him. But I can’t imagine having to go through this without knowing God’s plan. I can’t imagine how people go through these types of losses not knowing we know that he’s returned to the God that gave him life. This is a testimony and a faith that we’ve strengthened throughout our lives and met an it. It’s hard to see our brother mourn, but we’ve all ralled around him. All of us and all of Rachel’s family at the funeral, it was a miracle because of the weather and how soon everything happened. She has eight siblings, so all nine of them were there. My brother has seven. Eight of us were there, and we felt that with him. Not to mention our friends and the saints, just the love poured out. I was like, That’s the gospel. Mourning with those that mourn.

I cried with coworkers. I cried with church members. I just remember waking up in the morning and seeing that text message and being like, You know how you wake up in the morning? You’re just like, Whoa, wait, what’s going on? I’m like, I got to go. I got to go, Vanessa. This is what happened. She’s like, No, we have to go. It’s all of us. I’m so grateful for the support that we have here in this life, but also on the other side and the welcoming that we know. Joshua received such a beautiful child. Like you said, we don’t know why. I know.

It’s so hard.

But so many testimonies have been strengthened about the afterlife from that. I wish we could have recorded the funeral and heard the testimonies and shared it with the world because we talked about Joshua. We talked about how, you know what? This kid probably got it done. The Lord needs him on the other side to do some other work. He came, he got his body. A lot of us, it takes us our whole life to get it. He got it. God needs him. We don’t understand. But I’m so grateful for the support of family and friends and the Saints and for my knowledge of knowing that none are lost unto the Father. None are lost.

How’s your brother?

Oh, man, his testimony is so strong. There’s a lot of tears, but he’s just appreciative of also the support of everybody that came to the funeral and have messaged him and has sent meals and sent money for the funeral. But it’s his baby boy. He’s sad to miss him. They’ve already been visiting the grave site quite a bit. It’s hard. But one thing that they’re intentional about, because they have other little ones, is to make sure that they know about their little brother. It happened. All his stuff is gone and we’re just not going to talk about it. They talk about it. They visit the grave site and they look at the pictures and they made a video. It’s important to him, to Conlon and Rachel, to share about their baby boy, Joshua, with the siblings. I think that that’s special because I think for me, I would have wanted to know about my sibling. I would want the pictures, I would want the video, I would want all that. I think they’re being intentional about making sure that his siblings know about Joshua and who.

He is. Yeah, that’s awesome. My brother and his wife do the same. They’ve got Gavin on the wall. There’s the picture of the two other kids and Gavin’s there. That’s great. It’s built some traditions. Alice and my wife will bring dinner on the anniversary of his passing. Oh, wow. I mean, it’s still so sad, but there’s so many sweet things and things that bring us back to a spiritual consciousness. I hope this isn’t… This is on topic, but when I saw your post, I had just like… I’ve been reading this book by his name’s Sundar Singha, and he’s this guy from India in the early 1900s, and he had this vision of Christ and converted to Christianity as a teenager and got disowned by his father and persecuted it. And he decided to follow Christ and just minister and go suffer with those who suffer. And he would wander around Nepal and India. And then eventually he became famous and was brought to the US and Europe and gave sermons and stuff. But then he took a couple of years off and wrote some books about all of his experiences. And one of the books he talks about, like spiritual vision.

And he was gifted to see what happens when people die. And he saw the spirits of those who had soft hearts and babies. He specifically saw a mother lose her baby and the tragedy of what… And she just can’t… We can’t see what’s going on. But then he saw the other side where ancestors and loved ones… It was just this joyous welcoming and bringing into the light of God. Reading that testimony and then seeing you was like such a gift to me, priceless gift to me. It did some healing back to what we experienced with g avin. I just know and feel. I don’t know your family at all. I know you, but I was just so grateful to know you and see that example. And it was a huge solve to.

My soul. That’s amazing. Thank you for sharing that because I mean, just didn’t even know that it would affect other saints and.

Other people. I know that post. Even if someone wasn’t spiritually sensitive, it was such a joyous… I never want to make light of how sad a funeral is, but it was such a joyous, hopeful, light filled experience as opposed to what so many funerals are. And so that’s awesome.

Wow. I’m going to take that back to family.

And let them know.

Yeah. It’s been new, but we hold close to the Savior, especially in times like this. And knowing wow, he’s got a plan. God’s got a plan. He knows us and he loves us. He’s going to carry us through the hard times, the sorrow. It’s made those times with those who we have still here even sweeter. Oh, my gosh, we have to appreciate what we have because we don’t know. We don’t know when when someone’s going to be called home. And we’re not from here. This isn’t home. We’re not from here.

Yeah, it’s true. The goal of the podcast is there’s twofold. It’s to help men feel not so alone in their trials and their struggles. And then two, to show people living awesome lives with God in their life.

I love that. Oh, my guys, they’d be forgetting about us, Eric. We got to be strong. We got to have it together, man. Oh, my goodness. Many of us will work. And then when we deep breath, here’s the baby. Okay, got it. We got to check on each other.

I know. That’s why this podcast I’m doing it. I don’t even want it. I don’t like being on film. I like making music in my studio alone in this dark room. I don’t want to be on camera, but I just feel like I felt like I have to do this podcast because I want to share guys living lives and their struggles. But, dude, what I want to do, I want to close on with you is how would you take someone, another dude under your arm who has lost someone and maybe they have known… Maybe they’ve had belief in God, or the fire is just not burning and there’s a lot of despair. And they want to believe. If someone wants, if they’re hearing this and they’re like, I wish I had the Yehoshem’s faith, because obviously it’s incredible. They can’t take your faith. They can be inspired by it. You know what I’m saying? God can light the fire for them. But if you were going to take them under your arm, how would you… What’s the next step for them to get just a little closer?

That’s a great question. I think that’s key is that desire. That desire is starting. What I found, too, is a lot of times I’ll go through something, I’m like, Lord, why am I going… Pick somebody else. But then I realized a lot of our hardships, it’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s about, like you said, taking somebody. It’s about the testimony that you gain from your hardship. Then now what you do with that to help serve your brothers and sisters. I think a lot of times we focus so much in on ourselves, but what did Christ say about finding your life? If you lose your life in the service of others, that’s when you find it. My advice for those who are going through hard times, who maybe lost somebody, who have a testimony, is train the testimony. For me, it’s been hard. It’s been hard for our family. Colin lives down the road. We see their family all the time. Now, Joshua’s not there, and that’s hard. But just to be there with him has helped him. Just him being there with me with other people asking and not just saying, I’m not going to bother them.

No, say something, move, act upon. If you have a feeling to call somebody, you call them. For those who are struggling with a loss, reach out because you probably don’t have the support system that we were able to have with nine kids, eight kids, cousins, just huge family. Then on top of that social media pushing other people to reach out to us, we’ve appreciated it. Reach out to somebody, talk to talk to somebody. It’s been helpful to have that memory and not to push it all down and not to just throw out all the stuff and forget about it, not talk about it. We have to talk about it. We have to mourn. But we also give thanks for the opportunity that we had to spend that time with that loved one. I love that you guys still honor Gavin and you still talk about him because he was here.

My wife feels him. I think he’s still here. I know he’s still here. My wife feels him. My best friend died 10 years ago, my childhood best friend. And he’ll just randomly come to my mind, and I choose to believe that he’s with me, that he’s helping. I just choose to believe it, and my life’s better for it.

I love that. I love how you said your life is better for it because with Joshua, we’re all like, man, he has joined those who have passed on. He has joined our ancestors. And like I said, wow, I’m going to be my best self. My brother said, I’m going to live a life that my son can be proud of. That’s what my brother said. I’m just like, wow, my brother is one of the best people that I know. You’re going to be even better? What? And so I would just encourage people not to grieve alone. And once you have opened your mouth and people know that you’re grieving, you’ll find out that you’re not alone, that other people have experienced this. You reaching out to me and saying that you went through the same thing. Oh, my gosh. Because in the moment, it’s just like, Why is this happening? We’ve had a hard life. We had some hard things happen in our life growing up. That’s another podcast. But realizing, man, this is part of life, and there’s some sour bitterness in life, and that the peace that our ancestors had when on the trek in the snow and the peace that my ancestors had being beaten, no freedom, they were still able to find peace because they knew the Savior, because they knew, Hey, this isn’t it.

God’s got a perfect plan. I know how the story ends. Constantly reminding ourselves of that allows us to get through to the next day and knowing that there’s going to be brighter days. There’s going to be brighter days rider days, and there’s going to be low days, and there’s going to be people that are going to go through what we’ve went through. We now have a testimony and an opportunity to lift them up. Just get out of yourself and try to share with somebody else how you’re feeling and then look for opportunities to bless and to help others because that’s when you’ll feel closest to Christ.

So.

True. Amen.

Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You’re a busy guy, so I really appreciate it.

Oh, man. I always got time for this, man, to testify and to praise, man. When you’re feeling down, praise. Praise. Okay.

Will do. Okay. Thanks, brother.


Check out Yahosh’s music here:    / @yahosh  

Eric Robertson is a music producer, composer and a Man Who Loves God.

ericmichaelrobertson.com

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